PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad (CMC) — The Trinidad-based Caribbean Public Health Agency (CARPHA) yesterday warned that the region is in the midst of a childhood obesity epidemic, despite the dramatic improvement in the health status of young people in the Caribbean over the past decades.

CARPHA said that statistics show that at least one in every five children carry unhealthy weights and risk developing non-communicable diseases (NCDs), like diabetes and cardiovascular diseases, later in life.

It said this will result in higher lifetime health costs for the individual and the state.

“Although our region is not facing a unique public health challenge, it has the unenviable distinction of having rates of prevalence that are close to or above the global average,” CARPHA said, noting that it is for this reason it brought together a regional task force to develop a plan of action to address childhood obesity and provide a comprehensive public health response.

“We have set ourselves an ambitious goal to halt and reverse a rise in child and adolescent obesity in the Caribbean by 2025,” said CARPHA executive director, Dr C James Hospedales.

“To achieve this, we will focus on technical cooperation with our member states to support the implementation of specific measures, paying attention to reducing obesogenic environments.”

CARPHA said that following its executive board meeting in Dominica last week, it presented its 2014-2019 Plan of Action for Promoting Healthy Weights in the Caribbean: Prevention and Control of Childhood Obesity to the Ministry of Health in Dominica.

Regional data show Dominica, like most other countries, to have a problem with increasing body mass index in children and adults, although less so than most of its Caribbean counterparts.

CARPHA said that it is anticipated that by 2019, regional governments, with assistance from the CARPHA, will be able to provide children with more supportive environments for physical activity and healthy eating; provide appropriate incentives to discourage unhealthy consumption patterns and to create and encourage healthier dietary choices and empower communities to embrace active living and healthful eating.

CARPHA said it is also hoped that regional governments will provide parents and children with accurate information about food, nutrition and exercise to enable informed decisions; provide the necessary care and support to our children who are affected by overweight/obesity, and to ensure that they are safeguarded from bias and stigmatisation associated with their condition, and ensure that systems within government have the capability to mount effective responses and that multi-sectoral cooperation is fostered.